I'm very lucky in that I get help from Social Services in the form of Direct Payments. One of the things they said I can spend it on is to go away for a few days to visit friends and family back where I grew up, with my PA to assist me. We confirmed that I can use my DP to pay for accessible accommodation for myself and nearby accommodation for my PA. So far so good.
I've employed PAs for a few years now but this is the first time I'm looking at going away with one. I need to find out what the right way is to calculate my PA's wages and expenses while we're away.
I don't usually need help overnight and even while I'm awake, she'll only be with me and "working" for an hour or so at a time - call it a total of 4 hours a day - the rest of the time, lovely as she is, I'd actually prefer her to go away and do her own thing so that I can have a good chatter with my friends and family. Paying her our usual hourly rate for 24 hours multiplied by the number of days we're away would seem a bit excessive.
But on the other hand, we're going to be quite a long distance from home. It's not like she can pop back to her own house between times or overnight, sleep in her own bed or be making her own meals in her own kitchen. So I'd imagine I should be paying her more than just 4 hours a day at the usual hourly rate.
I phoned and asked my "direct payment and personal budget support service" what I should do. They said someone would call me back. The next day someone called me back, and said they'd get someone to call me back. The next day someone called me back, and after repeatedly explaining that I just wanted guidance on how to calculate my PA's wages and expenses, they said they'd have to look into it and call me back.
I am not hopeful. So I thought I'd ask here. Has anyone else been away from home with a PA? How did you work it out?